Tag Archives: marine series

A UFO catcher is a kind of claw machine game popular in Japan. Compared to their Western counterparts, UFO catchers generally have 2 prongs instead of 3 or 4. From my experience, in the US, claw machines just have a random assortment of things, but Fansclub took it to another level and stocked their machines with Rilakkuma. Jealous!

These plushies are genuine San-X licensed – they’re just not sold in stores! You have to earn them by mastering the art of UFO catching. They come in different sizes, materials, and designs from the store releases.

However, sometimes, Fansclub and San-X come out with very similar Rilakkuma designs. Take the Marine Series, for example:

Store release (~22 cm)

Fansclub release (~17-20 cm)

Fansclub XL release (~50 cm)

Wow, super similar! But all legitimate :)

One great thing: Fansclub does a hell of a job cataloging their UFO catcher plushies and other prizes. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can stroll through their entire catalog of prizes, by series name and release date. San-X has been partnered with Fansclub for a long time, so there are hundreds of Rilakkuma UFO catcher plushies out there!

I generally gravitate towards the standard 22 cm plushies, but I love that these Rilakkuma plushies come in so many different designs!

My brother was home for the weekend, so I snapped a few shots of his Rilakkuma plushies! They are from the Marine Series, which was released in May 2012. Because San-X did not release a Kiiroitori for this series, this is actually the complete set!

Aww! So cute together!

Their hats are so well done!

“daradara since 2003” – this means that they have been lazy since their birth in 2003!

It’s so nice to see the full set! I have to admit that I am personally biased towards Rilakkuma, so all of my plushies are Rilakkuma only, but having the matching set is so sweet! They’re sized perfectly, so that when they are standing together, it looks like they are holding hands!

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Photo Policy

I try as much as I can to source all the images on the blog that aren’t my own (mainly San-X promotional materials) – clicking on any image will take you to its source. I do not hotlink. If you click on photos I took myself, you will simply be taken to a page with the image alone.

Rilakkuma & friends (and products) are all property of San-X; I just like to take pictures of my plushies and talk about Rilakkuma things.